SB 26-FALSE INFORMATION/REPORT TO POLICE MR. MIKE PAULEY, staff to Senator Leman, offered a brief overview of SB 26, and then discussed the blank committee substitute that Senator Leman is recommending the Judiciary Committee adopt in lieu of the original bill. Mr. Pauley read the following statement: Briefly, SB 26 proposes a new crime of giving false information to a police officer in the first and second degrees. If a person knowingly gives false information about their identity while under arrest or detention or being served a warrant for a felony offense, they can be charged with false information or report in the first degree. That is designated in the bill as a class C felony. On the other hand, if a person knowingly provides false identity information while under arrest or detention or being served a warrant for a misdemeanor offense, or while being issued a citation, that person can be charged with false information or report in the second degree. This is designated as a class A misdemeanor. This is the basic summary of the original bill. During last year's hearing in this committee, several concerns were raised about this legislation, and we believe we have addressed all those concerns in the blank CS. The first concern, raised by the Department of Law, was that the class C felony designation was disproportionate. It was noted that resisting or interfering with arrest [AS 11.56.700] is arguably more serious than lying. Yet resisting or interfering with arrest is designated as a class A misdemeanor, and this is the case regardless of whether the person is being arrested for a felony or a misdemeanor. In the blank CS, we have changed the bill to follow this model. The blank CS creates a single crime of providing false information to a peace officer, and this is a class A misdemeanor under all circumstances. A second issue was raised by some committee members and also a representative of the Alaska State Troopers. The concern was that the bill was too narrow because the false information crime kicks in only if the false information is provided while the person is under arrest or detention, or being served a warrant or issued a citation. It was pointed out that false information could be provided to a peace officer while conducting an investigation, and this would not be covered under this bill. The blank CS expands the scope of the bill considerably, and the new language can be found on the letter "H" draft in your packets, on page 2, lines 11 through 13. This new language states that the crime of false information has been committee if a person, "having committed a crime, knowingly gives false information to a peace officer with the intent of avoiding apprehension, prosecution, conviction, or punishment." The final change included in the CS is an amendment to our existing statute on hindering prosecution. This can be found in section 1 of the blank CS, letter "H" draft, page 1, lines 4 through 12. This statute makes it a crime to render assistance to another person who has committed a crime, with the intent of hindering the apprehension, prosecution, conviction, or punishment of that person. The definition of rendering assistance to another includes using deception to obstruct the discovery or apprehension of that person. Accordingly, if a person lies to a police officer in an effort to obstruct the apprehension of a criminal, that is in itself a crime. However, there is a catch. Under the terms of our existing law, this would apply only if the person lies to prevent apprehension of a person who has committed a crime that is punishable by imprisonment of greater than 90 days. This effectively means that all class B misdemeanors are not covered under existing law. Class B misdemeanors include such offenses as disorderly conduct, harassment, misconduct involving weapons in the fifth degree, and criminal mischief in the fourth degree. While these may not be the most serious offenses on the books, they do consume a great deal of police time. It does not seem appropriate for state law to sanction lying to a police officer under these circumstances. The blank CS removes the exception for class B misdemeanors, so that the statute applies to all crimes. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR asked if Senator Leman had considered making it a crime to file false information to the legislature. MR. PAULEY responded that idea had not been considered. CHAIRMAN TAYLOR moved to adopt CSSB 26 (JUD), version H, dated 3/16/00, as the working document of the committee. There being no objection, CSSB 26 (JUD) was adopted. Number 445 SENATOR HALFORD asked about Section 2(4), knowingly makes a false report to the Department of Natural Resources under AS 46.17 concerning the condition of a dam or reservoir; or, wondering how this subsection came about. MR. PAULEY responded that last year Senator Halford had informed him this section was an ill-advised piece of legislation that had been adopted by the legislature several years ago. SENATOR HALFORD moved to delete subsection (4). There being no objection, subsection (4) was deleted. SENATOR HALFORD moved CSSB 26 (JUD)am out of committee with individual recommendations. There being no objection, the motion carried.